NEXT month's annual conker competition is being threatened by a conker crisis caused by the sizzling summer.

The annual Liverpool conker championship in Calderstones Park is going ahead as planned but organisers are advising competitors to start their search for conkers early because so many have already fallen.

There are also worries that conkers will be too soft or small for traditional combat and some people wishing to enter may decide to pick up prize seeds on the internet - where they are being sold for £4.50 for 15.

Hot weather over the summer has affected the way conkers have developed on the trees and this year's competition on Sunday, October 5, may be less heated than normal.

And by the time Knowsley's conker competition is held in Halewood Park on October 26 fans fear the shortage may be even more severe.

A spokesman for Liverpool cit y counci l reassured entrants: "The conker competition will be going ahead as normal, despite the reports about the size of conkers."

Friends of Sefton Park representative Martin Robinson said: "Last week was a bumper fall but they are smaller than normal and when the competition takes place in October we just hope there will be plenty of good- sized ones still around."

Next month will also see the conkers world championship being held in Northampton-shire on October 12 and the shortage down south is so bad, organisers have had to put out an appeal for donations.

But John Hadman, secretary of Ashton Conker Club, blamed last weekend's windy conditions for the problems.

"It is a potential crisis at the moment. We are going to have a look and see what state they are in."

The tournament organisers pick 3,000 conkers before grading them and then choosing 1,500.

He added: "If they are not up to scratch, we will have to put out an SOS."

In a previous year, a similar appeal saw people send in around 1,000 conkers from different areas around the country. Punters are even bidding for them on internet auction site eBay.